Order

Family

Code 4

Code 6

ITIS

ILLUSTRATION

PHOTOS

CONSERVATION STATUS

The Common Ground-Dove is one of the world’s smallest pigeons, and resides in tropical and subtropical climates. They can be found breeding and nesting in Aruba, Bermuda, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, northern Brazil, and the southern United States such as Arizona, Texas and California. Living in warmer climates allows this species to reside permanently in it homeland. The Common Ground-Dove lives in scrub areas, fields, gardens and farmlands. This bird forages for food on the ground, and feed on seeds and small insects. Due to maintained and increasing population levels, the Common Ground-Dove has a conservation rating of Least Concern.

SUMMARY

Overview

Common Ground-Dove: Small, rounded dove with plain gray-brown back and scaled pink-gray head and breast. Eyes are red and bill is orange-red with black tip. The wings show rufous primaries in flight. Tail is short. Legs and feet are pink. Forages on ground. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Common Ground-Dove: Resident in southern parts of the United States from southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and east from Alabama to North Carolina. Also resident in much of Mexico and throughout the West Indies. Preferred habitats include fields, gardens, farmlands, and roadsides.

Common Ground-Dove SONGS AND CALLS

Common Ground-Dove A1

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Song is a series of soft cooing notes, "coo-oo, coo-oo" with a rising inflection.

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"coo-oo, coo-oo, coo-oo"

INTERESTING FACTS

Common Ground Doves are one of the world's smallest pigeons.

They are rapidly becoming less common in Florida due to ongoing habitat destruction.

A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a "bevy", "cote", "dole", "dule", and "flight" of doves.

RANGE MAP NORTH AMERICA

About this North America Map

FAMILY DESCRIPTION

The taxonomic order COLUMBIFORMES (pronounced koh-LUM-bih-FOR-meez) is composed of just one family, the pigeons and doves.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

A large family with a nearly worldwide distribution, there are three hundred and twenty species of pigeons and doves in the Columbidae (pronounced koh-LUM-bih-dee) in forty-one genera.

NORTH AMERICA

North America has forty-nine species of pigeons and doves in eleven genera that have occurred (including the extinct Passenger Pigeon). Included in the Columbidae family are the tiny ground-doves, the hefty Band-tailed Pigeon, and the familiar, highly urbanized Rock Pigeon.

KNOWN FOR

Pigeons and doves are known for their swift flight and distinctive cooing calls. Several species have also become adapted to living with people, the most well known of these being the Rock Pigeon.

PHYSICAL

In North America, pigeons are bulky, medium-sized birds, while doves are smaller and more delicate in appearance. Most members of this family have rather long tails and long, pointed wings that can give then a falcon-like appearance in flight. They have short legs, thick, longish necks, and a small head with a dainty bill and prominent cere.

COLORATION

North American members of this family tend to be plumaged in dark gray, various shades of brown, and white (morphs of the Rock Pigeon showing all of these colors). Some species have rufous in the wings and tail, and several have black and white markings on the face, wings, tail or body. Brighter colors such as red and yellow are seen in the legs and bills of several species, while hues of green, violet and other colors are found in the iridescent plumage of some species.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Except for the far northern tundra, members of the Columbidae are distributed throughout North America and occupy both forested and open habitats. The most forest based species is the large Band-tailed Pigeon of the west, other species more or less dependent upon forest being the Red-billed Pigeon of southern Texas, and the White-crowned Pigeon of the tropical hammocks in southern Florida. Other members of the Columbidae found in the United States and Canada are adapted to edge and non-forest habitats.

MIGRATION

Pigeons and doves are mostly resident birds with migration limited to short distance movements by some populations of the Band-tailed Pigeon.

HABITS

Extant North American pigeons and doves do not nest in colonies, but most flock together while foraging. While the Band-tailed, White-crowned, and Red-billed Pigeons pick fruits and nuts from high up in the trees, the Rock Pigeon and various doves forage for seed and grain on the ground.

CONSERVATION

No living North American pigeons or doves are threatened although populations of White-crowned and Red-billed Pigeons have declined because of deforestation.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Passenger Pigeon was once one of the most abundant species of North American birds. The historical descriptions of this species are legendary; flocks of more than a billion birds that darkened the skies, nesting colonies of tens of thousands of birds, and mass hunts that slaughtered pigeons by the thousands. This latter description gives the main reason why this formerly prolific bird went extinct in 1914 and is sad testament to the impact people can have upon any species no matter how abundant they may appear to be.